The Push-Up and How to Love It
From the Team Beachbody Club - Join Today and Workout to
Win!
"Drop and give me
twenty." If you made it through high-school gym class, you probably broke into
a cold sweat the moment you read those five words. To a gym teacher, nothing
says "I own you" like push-ups. Because of this, most people think of these
exercises as painful, demanding grunt work that serves no other purpose than
humiliation.
Au contraire! In
truth, the push-up is an amazing exercise. It works all kinds of muscles,
requires no extra equipment, and can be easily tailored for all fitness levels.
So let's take a look at the humble push-up, shall we?
The primary muscles
that push-ups work are your chest muscles, or your pectoralis major, if
you want to be fancy about it. But that's just where the fun begins. Also
getting a workout are your anterior deltoids (your front shoulder muscles), and
your triceps. Several other muscles act as stabilizers during a push-up,
meaning they don't really move, but they do contract, so they also get a
workout. These muscles include biceps, obliques, quads, and everyone's
favorite, the abs.
How is it
done?
The form, in theory, is simple. Arms should be shoulder-length
apart. Your body should be straight as a board the whole time. A common mistake
is to lift your booty too high. Look out for this. If you can check your form
in a mirror, great. If not, have a friend take a look at your form.
Once you have that
sorted out, make sure you get full range of movement. Don't lower yourself to
the point that you're touching the ground (there's no resting in push-ups!),
but get right down there close. When you come up, come all the way back up. As
Tony says, "You've got the whole muscle; you might as well use it."
Finally, go
sloooooooow. If you blast through push-ups, range of movement often suffers.
Also, momentum starts doing a lot of the work, so your muscles don't get the
workout. If you can do a steady, controlled push-up in one or two seconds,
that's perfect. If you want to do them slower, great! Enjoy the burn!
If you're looking to
accent pectoral development, try wide push-ups. They're the same as regular
push-ups, only with your hands about shoulder length and a half apart. If
you're looking to work on your triceps, place your hands closer together,
making a diamond with your hand and when you lower yourself to the ground, let
your elbows go back, not out.
Too
hard!
Unfortunately, this festival of anaerobic goodness can be somewhat
difficult. If you're having a hard time with push-ups, you can always drop to
your knees and do what were called in less politically correct times "girlie
push-ups." But just brush this misnomer aside because, as long as your form's
right, you're still getting plenty of benefit.
If this is still too
difficult, do them standing up. Stand about two feet away from the wall,
pushing yourself off, so the upper body does the same movements as a regular
push-up, only vertically. Once you've mastered that, again do them standing,
but push off your kitchen counter with your body straight, so they're more
diagonal. After that, do them with your hands on the seat of a chair, then
hands on a smaller stool, and end up with your hands on the ground, doing good
old-fashioned regular push-ups.
Too
easy!
If you have the opposite problem, and push-ups are just too easy,
there are plenty of ways to adjust things so as to insure self-torture. In
addition to the previously mentioned slowing down, you can put your feet up on
the seat of a chair, with your hands still on the ground, so you're doing an
inverted push-up.
Clappers are another
easy way to add challenge. When you're pushing yourself up, simply do it with
enough force so that you lift yourself up a little and have time to quickly
clap your hands before putting them back on the ground. Keep in mind that this
is a fairly plyometric move and can be tough on the wrists and elbows.
Or, if you want to
increase the intensity but keep standard form, you can do push-ups wearing a
backpack with weights in it. This can be hard on your back and shoulders, so if
you have a history of problems in either area, avoid this trick. Also, until
you know your limits, you might want to have a friend hold the pack on your
back, so it can be pulled off in case you've overshot your limits. Save the wrists
The most common problem people have
with push-ups involves the wrists, which isn't surprising, considering you're
supporting the bulk of your body weight on a bent joint. The obvious solution
is to straighten the joint. You can do this by doing the exercise on your
fists. If that's a tad too macho for you, you can purchase push-up bars at most
sporting goods stores for around $20. They're little C-shaped bars you hold
that allow you to work with straight wrists. If you don't feel like springing
for yet another fitness doodad, and you have weights, you can always grasp them
instead, provided they aren't the kind that will roll out from under
you.
You see? Push-ups
aren't that bad! There are dozens of ways to do them and they have a host of
benefits. So next time you drop for twenty, just consider that maybe that gym
teacher had your best interests at heart.
But probably
not. |
